"I’m too sacred for the sinners/And the saints wish I would leave." - Mark Heard

Monday, October 6, 2008

Don, Tell 'Em What They've Won!

Out congressman, and many others, just voted for the $700 BILLION bailout. In addition to the $700 Billion for which you and your children will be on the hook you also got*:

-$128 million for manufacturers of car racing tracks (Nascar states, Virginia & North Carolina)-$10 million to small television and film producers (Los Angeles, California)-$223 million for fishermen affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill-$6 million for children's wooden arrows (worth at least $200K to Rose City Archery, a company in Myrtle Point, Oregon)-$192 million on excise taxes for Puerto Rican and Virgin Island rum industry-$148 million for US wool fabric producers-$19 billion for companies that do research in the U.S. They get a two-year extension of a tax credit-$478 million for movie and television producers. A tax incentive is intended to keep production here in the U.S. (union costs intent to keep production out of the U.S.)-$10 million for businesses that encourage their employees to commute by bicycle-$149 million for corporations and agriculture producers that donate food-$49 million for groups that donate books to schools-$33 million for corporations operating in American Samoa-$50 million and $100 million to Midwestern states for “disaster relief,” even though crops have recovered extremely well after this year’s flooding-$322 million for manufacturers of energy-efficient appliances will qualify for up to $250 in federal tax credits for each machine they produce over the next three years

* Not included in the $700 Billion, making this a $880 Billion dump on the American taxpayer.

If this bill was so crucial, so essential to our economy why did it take so much pork to get it passed? For those not in the know, pork money is included to convince an elected official to vote for a bill. "No sir, I won't vote for it." "What about if we give you $10 million for a Toilet Paper Roll museum in your district." "You can count on my vote."

And if this problem has been brewing for over ten years why did it have to be passed IMMEDIATELY? Because the media had worked the public into a frenzy and they had to make their giant power grab while people were panicking, despite the majority of Americans being against it. Yes, there were issues with tight credit for business owners but a much smaller bill could have remedied that.